“The lotus has its roots in the mud,
Grows up through the deep water,
Temiraja Jataka
There once lived a king Kasiraja of Benares who had neither son nor daughter. His chief queen, Candadevi, known for virtues, asked the great god Sakka for a son which was later named Temiya-Kumara. When Temiya was one month old, he was brought to the throne of his father to sit on his knee. Four robbers were then brought before the king to be judged. Temiya witnessed his father sentence one robber to a thousand strokes from thorn-baited whips, another to imprisonment in chains, the third to death by the spear and the fourth to death by impaling.
In the year 238 B.C Emperor Asoka King had sent two lear ned Bhikkus namely Sona Thera and Utara Thera to propagate Buddhism in Suwanaphumi or Southeast Asia in present time. From that time Buddhism has flourished through out the land of Suwanaphumi, especially we could note the main events in various ancient kingdom i.e.Funan Kingdom(first state of present Cambodia) has been claimed about the advantage of Buddhism in this capital city. Among the kings of Funan dynasty, Kaundinya Jayavarman (478-514 AD) sent a mission to China under the leadership of a Buddhist monk named Nagasena from India.
Buddhism is one of the oldest religions that is practiced today. The history of Buddhism spans from the 6th century B.C.E. to the present, and it has undergone several expansions over the period of time.
Buddha’s Birth
The Buddha was born as Siddhatta on the day of the full moon in the month of Visakha in 623 B.C.E., in Lumbini Park at Kapilavatthu, a place where Indian borders of present Nepal. His father was King Suddhodana, a virtuous king of the Sakya dynasty, and his mother was Queen Maha Maya. His mother passed away seven days after his birth and from then on, Maha Pajāpati Gotami took care of Siddhatta. ‘Siddhatta’ means ‘one whose aim is accomplished’.
